Creating Black Americans African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present

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Here is a magnificent account of a past rich in beauty and creativity, but also in tragedy and trauma. Eminent historian Nell Irvin Painter blends a vivid narrative based on the latest research with a wonderful array of artwork by African American artists, works which add a new depth to ourunderstanding of black history. Painter offers a history written for a new generation of African Americans, stretching from life in Africa before slavery to today's hip-hop culture. The book describes the staggering number of Africans--over ten million--forcibly transported to the New World, most doomed to brutal servitudein Brazil and the Caribbean. Painter looks at the free black population, numbering close to half a million by 1860 (compared to almost four million slaves), and provides a gripping account of the horrible conditions of slavery itself. The book examines the Civil War, revealing that it only slowlybecame a war to end slavery, and shows how Reconstruction, after a promising start, was shut down by terrorism by white supremacists. Painter traces how through the long Jim Crow decades, blacks succeeded against enormous odds, creating schools and businesses and laying the foundations of ourpopular culture. We read about the glorious outburst of artistic creativity of the Harlem Renaissance, the courageous struggles for Civil Rights in the 1960s, the rise and fall of Black Power, the modern hip-hop movement, and two black Secretaries of State. Painter concludes that African Americanstoday are wealthier and better educated, but the disadvantaged are as vulnerable as ever. Painter deeply enriches her narrative with a series of striking works of art--more than 150 in total, most in full color--works that profoundly engage with black history and that add a vital dimension to the story, a new form of witness that testifies to the passion and creativity of theAfrican-American experience. * Among the dozens of artists featured are Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Beauford Delaney, Jacob Lawrence, and Kara Walker * Filled with sharp portraits of important African Americans, from Olaudah Equiano (one of the first African slaves to leave a record of his captivity) and Toussaint L'Ouverture (who led the Haitian revolution), to Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X

Nell Irvin Painter is the Edward Professor of American History at Princeton. A former Director of Princeton's Program in African-American Studies, she is the author of Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol and Standing at Armageddon: The United States 1877-1919.

Preface

xv

Acknowledgments

xxi

Africa and Black Americans

3

(20)

``African'' Americans and Africa

3

(13)

Ethiopianism: Ancient Egypt + Cush + Ethiopia = the Negro Race

7

(2)

Absent Africa

9

(1)

Black Scholars in an African Diasporic Framework

10

(2)

Black Nationalism and the New Negro Movement

12

(1)

The Call for Racial Art

12

(2)

Textbook Recognition of African History

14

(1)

Ghana

14

(1)

Mali

15

(1)

Songhay

15

(1)

African-American Artists Encounter Independent Africa

16

(7)

Conclusion

18

(2)

Timeline

20

(1)

Review Questions

20

(1)

Discussion Questions

21

(2)

Captives Transported, 1619--ca. 1850

23

(24)

1619 and Two Early Slave-Trade Narratives

24

(7)

The Founders of Black America

25

(6)

The Atlantic Slave Trade

31

(7)

The Scale of the Forced Migration

32

(2)

Three Stages of the Journey

34

(4)

Artists Represent the Atlantic Slave Trade

38

(9)

Conclusion

43

(1)

Timeline

44

(1)

Review Questions

45

(1)

Discussion Questions

45

(2)

A Diasporic People, 1630--ca. 1850

47

(22)

Religion in the African Diaspora

48

(8)

Dimensions of African-American Religion

49

(5)

Christian Themes in Black Art

54

(2)

Spirituals

56

(1)

Language and Literature in the African Diaspora

56

(2)

Ethnic and Racial Identities

58

(5)

Africans and Indians

59

(2)

Africans and Europeans

61

(2)

``Mulatto Population''

63

(1)

Minority Status

63

(2)

The Black Population Lived Throughout North America

65

(4)

Conclusion

65

(1)

Timeline

66

(1)

Review Questions

67

(1)

Discussion Questions

67

(2)

Those Who Were Free, ca. 1770--1859

69

(22)

American and Haitian Revolutions

70

(6)

Black Soldiers in the American Revolution

70

(2)

Petitioning for Emancipation and Civil Rights

72

(2)

The Haitian Revolution

74

(2)

Free People in the United States

76

(8)

Free Black People at Work

78

(1)

Education and Voluntary Associations

78

(2)

Protest in Word and Deed

80

(1)

Black Abolitionists

81

(3)

The Reach of Slavery Lengthens

84

(7)

Conclusion

86

(2)

Timeline

88

(1)

Review Questions

89

(1)

Discussion Questions

89

(2)

Those Who Were Enslaved, ca. 1770--1859

91

(24)

The Enslaved Lay the Foundations of the American Economy

92

(4)

Enslaved Laborers

93

(3)

The Domestic Slave Trade

96

(2)

Slavery: A Dehumanizing Institution

98

(5)

Physical Trauma

98

(1)

Psychological Trauma

99

(1)

What Slavery Cost Slaves

100

(1)

The Value System That Slaves Took from Slavery

101

(1)

Family and Religion as Protection Against Dehumanization

102

(1)

Undermining Slavery

103

(12)

Conspiracies and Insurrections

103

(1)

Running Away

104

(2)

The Underground Railroad

106

(1)

Harriet Tubman, Moses of Her People

106

(5)

Conclusion

111

(1)

Timeline

112

(1)

Review Questions

112

(1)

Discussion Questions

113

(2)

Civil War and Emancipation, 1859--1865

115

(26)

Sectional Tensions Leading to War

117

(1)

A War About Union, Not About Slavery

118

(3)

Rebuff of Black Volunteers

118

(1)

Fugitive Slaves as ``Contraband of War''

119

(1)

Pressure to Enlist Blacks

120

(1)

Emancipation and Colonization

120

(1)

The War Against Slavery

121

(6)

The Emancipation Proclamations

122

(1)

Black Regiments in the Union Army

123

(2)

Summer 1863: The Turning Point

125

(1)

Struggles over Officers and Equal Pay

125

(2)

African Americans in the War Effort

127

(3)

Two Hundred Thousand Black Soldiers and Sailors

127

(2)

Spies, Scouts, Guides, and Nurses

129

(1)

Memorializing African Americans in the Civil War

130

(4)

Slavery Destroyed

134

(7)

Conclusion

137

(1)

Timeline

138

(1)

Review Questions

139

(1)

Discussion Questions

139

(2)

The Larger Reconstruction, 1864--1896

141

(20)

Making Freedom Real

142

(9)

Reuniting Families and Finding Work

142

(2)

Land Ownership: Forty Acres and a Mule

144

(1)

Education for Freedpeople

145

(2)

Freedpeople's Churches

147

(1)

Voting and Holding Office

148

(3)

The Destruction of Democracy

151

(10)

White Supremacist Violence

151

(1)

Exodus to Kansas of 1879

152

(1)

Undermining of Black Civil Rights by the Supreme Court

153

(1)

African Americans and Indians

154

(2)

What Reconstruction Did

156

(1)

Conclusion

157

(1)

Timeline

158

(1)

Review Questions

159

(1)

Discussion Questions

159

(2)

Hard-Working People in the Depths of Segregation, 1896--ca. 1919

161

(28)

Struggle, Survival, and Success

163

(15)

Hard-Working People

163

(1)

Sharecropping, Debt, and Prison

163

(3)

Educational Gains

166

(4)

Black Professionals

170

(1)

The Golden Age of Black Business

170

(2)

Black Towns and Churches: Havens from Racist Oppression

172

(1)

New Black Music

173

(2)

Black Athletes

175

(1)

Countering Antiblack Stereotypes

175

(3)

White Supremacy: An Attempt to Halt Black Success

178

(11)

White Supremacy: Disfranchisement

178

(1)

White Supremacy: Segregation

179

(1)

Lynching and Antilynching Campaigns

180

(3)

Conclusion

183

(3)

Timeline

186

(1)

Review Questions

187

(1)

Discussion Questions

187

(2)

The New Negro, 1915--1932

189

(26)

The Great Migration

190

(3)

The First World War: Struggle on Two Fronts

193

(13)

Black Military Bands Introduce Jazz

198

(1)

Antiblack Riots and the Red Summer of 1919

199

(2)

The New Negroes' Initiatives

201

(2)

The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

203

(3)

The Harlem Renaissance

206

(9)

Music of the Harlem Renaissance

206

(2)

Literature of the Harlem Renaissance

208

(2)

Scholarship of the Harlem Renaissance

210

(1)

Art of the Harlem Renaissance

211

(1)

Conclusion

211

(1)

Timeline

212

(1)

Review Questions

213

(1)

Discussion Questions

213

(2)

Radicals and Democrats, 1930--1940

215

(24)

The Depression Crisis

216

(7)

Catastrophic Black Unemployment

217

(1)

The New Deal and Political Realignment

217

(2)

The Scottsboro Cases and Protests Against Lynching

219

(2)

``Don't Buy Where You Can't Work'' Boycotts and Self-Help Campaigns

221

(2)

The New Deal

223

(7)

New Deal Goals and Programs

223

(1)

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Black Artists

224

(4)

African Americans Confront New Deal Racism

228

(1)

The ``Black Cabinet''

229

(1)

Black Activism Increases in Depth and Range

230

(9)

African Americans Rally to Support Ethiopia

230

(2)

Black Heroes of the Depression Years

232

(2)

Fighting Racial Oppression in the Courts

234

(1)

Campaigns for Civil Rights and Workers' Rights in the South

234

(1)

Conclusion

235

(1)

Timeline

236

(1)

Review Questions

237

(1)

Discussion Questions

237

(2)

The Second World War and the Promise of Internationalism, 1940--1948

239

(22)

Struggles at Home and Abroad

239

(9)

Familiar Issues

240

(1)

The ``Double Vee'' Strategy and the FEPC

240

(1)

Black Men and Women in the Second World War

241

(4)

Black Flyers Disprove Stereotypes and Win Medals

245

(1)

The Battle for Civil Rights in the South

246

(2)

``No Such Thing as the Status Quo''

248

(13)

The Invention of Bebop

248

(2)

Broadened Horizons, Increased Opportunities

250

(1)

The Promise of the United Nations

250

(2)

Post-war Confrontations in the South over Citizenship Rights

252

(1)

The Truman Administration and the Progressive Party Embrace Black Civil Rights

253

(1)

Migration and Increased Incomes: Long-Term Changes Wrought by War

254

(2)

Conclusion

256

(2)

Timeline

258

(1)

Review Questions

259

(1)

Discussion Questions

259

(2)

Cold War Civil Rights, 1948--1960

261

(28)

Human Rights in a Cold War Context

262

(8)

Anti-Communism Eclipses Internationalism

262

(3)

Brown v. Board of Education and Cold War Politics

265

(1)

Southern ``Massive Resistance'' to Legal Desegregation

266

(2)

New Segregation: The Growth of All-White Suburbs

268

(2)

Activism and Anger

270

(8)

The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955--1956

270

(2)

Desegregation of Little Rock, Arkansas, Central High School

272

(1)

Unremitting Antiblack Violence Stirs Bitterness and Anger

273

(3)

The Nation of Islam Grows

276

(2)

African-American Visibility in the Mainstream Culture

278

(11)

Black Intellectuals Speak to America and Are Heard

278

(3)

The Growing Popularity of African-American Music

281

(4)

Conclusion

285

(1)

Timeline

286

(1)

Review Questions

287

(1)

Discussion Questions

287

(2)

Protest Makes a Civil Rights Revolution, 1960--1967

289

(28)

The Early 60s: Action Direct and Indirect

290

(13)

Student Movements of the Early 1960s

290

(4)

The Protests of 1963, the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation

294

(5)

Freedom Summer, Mississippi, 1964

299

(1)

Malcolm X's Evolution from the NOI to Pan-Africanism, 1964--1965

300

(3)

Mid-1960s Legislation and Opposition

303

(14)

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Great Society

303

(2)

The Vietnam War Consumes the Great Society's Resources

305

(1)

Urban Revolts of the Mid-1960s

306

(2)

Background Causes of the Riots

308

(4)

Conclusion

312

(2)

Timeline

314

(1)

Review Questions

315

(1)

Discussion Questions

315

(2)

Black Power, 1966--1980

317

(32)

The Emergence of Black Power

318

(6)

Black Power as Self-Definition and Self-Defense

319

(2)

The Black Panther Party

321

(3)

Cultural Nationalism: Emphasis on African Roots

324

(4)

Black Power After 1968

328

(21)

Assassination and Aftermath

328

(7)

Angry Reaction in Vietnam

335

(3)

Black Power Workers, Artists, Feminists, and Intellectuals

338

(5)

Black Power Lives On

343

(1)

Conclusion

343

(3)

Timeline

346

(1)

Review Questions

347

(1)

Discussion Questions

347

(2)

Authenticity and Diversity in the Era of Hip-Hop, 1980--2005

349

(28)

Racial Politics and Economics After Black Power: Increased Diversity

350

(11)

Affirmative Action: Controversial and Effective

350

(2)

Black Conservatives Gain Prominence

352

(2)

Black Democrats: More Numerous, More Influential

354

(2)

Black Voters Disfranchised in the 2000 Presidential Election

356

(1)

The Reparations Movement

357

(2)

Reclaiming Black History

359

(1)

Afrocentrism Provokes Controversy

360

(1)

African Americans Remake American Culture

361

(16)

Hip-Hop Culture Presents a New Vision of the Inner City

363

(5)

Opportunity in the Military, Opposition to War

368

(3)

Conclusion

371

(1)

Timeline

372

(2)

Review Questions

374

(1)

Discussion Questions

375

(2)

Epilogue: A Snapshot of African Americans in the Early Twenty-First Century

377

(16)

The Black Middle Class

378

(2)

Family Structure Influences Class

380

(1)

Wealth: A Sound Measure of Financial Well-being

380

(2)

African Americans at the Extremes of Wealth and Poverty

382

(2)

The Crisis of Drugs and Incarceration

384

(1)

The War on Drugs Sends Hundreds of Thousands of African Americans to Prison